Many, many years ago-centuries ago, in fact-there lived a
people
with oak colored skin and almond eyes, herders on horseback and camel
who followed sheep and goats and yak across ancient grasslands at the
top of the world. Theirs was a land of bitter extremes, wind-swept
steppes bounded by jagged peaks, long winters cold beyond imagining
that melted into short green grassy summers when the herds multiplied
and there was milk and meat in abundance.

Long before the time of Christ, before Buddha and Mohammed,
these
tribes held a belief in the sacredness of all things and the need to
keep a balance-balance between the world of people and the world of
nature, and with the worlds above and below. Everything they did
reflected this belief.

Trees were scarce, so the herders drew
from their animals to create shelter. They layered sheep's wool,
sprinkled it with water and worked it into felted mats. Roof struts
made from saplings were slipped into a central wooden ring, then tied
to the top of circular lattice walls and covered with the felted mats.
The herders tied the felt to the roof and walls with ropes and belts
made from animal hair. In the winter extra mats were added for warmth;
in the summer fewer layers were used. Sections could be rolled up or
even completely removed in hot weather to allow for airflow through the
shelter.
The original word for "nomad" came from a word for felt, making the
nomads "felt people". These felt people called their circular,
lattice-walled shelters "home," or ger (rhymes with "air"). For them
the ger symbolized the center of the universe. It was a shelter that
enabled them to live sustainably in the harshest of climates, to move
with their herds, to live in tribal communities and raise their
families century upon century in a manner that was simple yet
comfortable and in balance with the world around them.

Mongolian and Turkic Designs

We don't know exactly where the ger originated. The Buryat
Mongols
of Siberia claim their land as the birthplace of the Mongol tribes and
also of the ger. Wherever it began, use of the ger spread with the
conquests and empire of Genghis Khan in the 13th and 14th centuries.
The Turkic nomads west of Mongolia call their ger by the name eu, oy or
uy (meaning "dwelling", or "home"). These nomads include numerous
tribes inhabiting the steppe-lands from Iran in the west, as far east
as Western Mongolia and south to Afghanistan. Common factors are
language (all speak dialects that are Turkic derivatives) and religion
(most are Muslim).

There are a number of differences between the Mongolian and
Turkic
versions of the ger. The Mongolian roof poles are straight, where the
Turkic poles are bent so that they serve as both the top of the wall
section and the roof. The Turkic roof poles are shaped by heating them
over a fire, in a hot dung pile, or in a form of steam box, then
bending them in a jig (usually a log with pegs hammered into it) and
pounding them with a hammer. The lattice wall in the Turkic ger is
often only four feet tall, but the bend in the roof poles adds height.

The Mongolian tono, or central roof ring, requires an artisan
with
carpentry skills and tools to produce it. It is so heavy that Mongolian
gers usually use supports for the tono, called bagana. The Turkic roof
ring is lighter and simpler to fabricate than the Mongolian version,
and does not require supports.

Mongolian doors, considered a symbol of status, are heavy
wooden
single doors. If a Turkic ger has wooden doors, they are two-piece and
open inward. Many Turkic gers, however, use flaps of felt or colorful
rugs to cover the doorway. These felted doors are often quite
beautiful, with stitched or appliqu�d patterns on them. Some Mongolian
gers use a felted flap in addition to their wooden door.

Variations of the Turkic ger found in Afghanistan and
sometimes Iran
include a two-tiered lattice-wall version, and sometimes a more pointed
roof section in areas with higher rainfall. The lattice walls are
actually stacked; one sits on top of the other and a bellyband holds
the wall in tension at the seam. Some of the two-tiered types also have
a "cap" piece over an extended roof wheel in the central ring.

Another variation common in parts of western Central Asia is
the use
of a reed wall instead of (or in addition to) felt. On hot summer days
a reed wall used alone allows for airflow while keeping animals out. In
the winter a reed wall with design patterns makes a colorful interior
under the felted mats. Kirghiz gers, in particular, use a lot of color
and design motifs in both felted and reed work.

In both Mongolian and Turkic tribes, it is the women who are
responsible for a major part of the creation and upkeep of shelter.
This is common in nomadic cultures worldwide. The women are in charge
of the felting process, usually a community event, and of patching the
felt when it wears thin. They weave the rugs that become floor
coverings and wall hangings, and the belts that go around the ger,
holding the lattice wall together and the coverings in place.

The circularity of the ger is perfect for nomadic uses. The
circle
encompasses the greatest space possible internally for the amount of
materials used (and carted from place to place). At the same time, the
circular shape leaves the least amount of exterior surface area exposed
to the elements (thus making it more efficient to heat) and leaves
fewer surfaces exposed to wind, which very naturally moves around it
since there are no corners.

Ger Variations

The Buryat Mongolian tribes, who live in northern Mongolia and
across the border in Siberia, have built permanent, wooden ger-type
structures out of logs, sometimes adding sod roofs for extra
insulation. The Buryats still call these structures ger and see them as
simply more permanent versions of the felted lattice-wall shelters. The
Buryats also use two versions of the tipi (called ursa): a portable
tipi covered with caribou hides and a more permanent structure using
bark.

For Mongolians, the ger is more than their traveling shelter
on the
Asian steppes. It is their centering point in a moving universe, their
center of the universe. The internal floor plan of the ger is based on
the four directions, much like the Native American Medicine Wheel or
the Navajo hogan. The door always opens to the south. Opposite the
door, sacred space is to the North. If the family is Buddhist, this is
where the altar sits. It is also the place of the seat of honor for
guests, perhaps in part because it is also the warmest spot in the ger.

Yin and yang, ancient symbols for masculine and feminine and
the
balance of life, hold space to the east and west. The western half of
the ger is the male area and the eastern half, the female domain. Men's
possessions (riding tack, hunting gear, etc.) are hung on the western
wall sections. Men and male guests usually sit on that side. Women's
tools, such as pots and pans and looms and felting equipment, are
stored on the east side of the ger, where women, children and female
guests also sit. As in a North American hogan or sweat lodge, one
proceeds around the ger in a clockwise direction.

At the center of all things glows a fire, sacred, gateway to
the
world below. Above is the central skylight, the smoke hole, entryway to
the world above. In the ancient Shamanist tradition, it is the ger that
holds the balance and flow of yin and yang, and of worlds above and
below. All of this is centered around the sacred fire, provider of
warmth and light and the smoke that rises to the world above. In this
way the ger expresses the balance of all things in the one, the circle.

The Native American Navajo hogan, which resembles the Buryat
Mongolian log ger, maintains a strikingly similar internal structure,
except that the door faces east and all directions are adjusted
accordingly. Male and female haves are still to the left and right of
the door, sacred space is opposite the door and all movement flows in a
clockwise direction.

Ger
to Yurt: the move West

When North Americans use the term "yurt", they are referring,
not to
the Central Asian ger, but to a version made from modern materials,
including steel aircraft cable and architectural fabrics. Behind the
development of this new form of shelter lies a story of visionary
designers and a movement committed to principles of simplicity and
sustainability.

In the early 1960's radical educator Bill Coperthwaite was
teaching
at a Quaker school in New Hampshire. His math students had completed
their required curriculum and were exploring the mathematics of roof
design. When Bill saw a 1962 National Geographic article by Supreme
Court Justice William O. Douglas about his trip to Mongolia, he was
inspired. Here, in the Mongolian ger, was an indigenous design that
could be adapted with the potential for creating a more livable,
accessible shelter. Bill's math class built a roof, but already the
design was changing. Instead of straight roof struts, the roof they
built had a lattice framework and required no central compression ring.

From New Hampshire Bill moved to Grass Valley, California, to
teach.
Here he built, with students, the first complete yurt with lattice
walls, a lattice roof structure and a cloth covering. Rather than a
woven tension band around the top of the lattice wall, Bill used steel
cable and set it into the lattice crotches at the top of the wall. Roof
struts were slit on their lower ends and slipped onto the cable rather
than being tied to the top of the wall slats.

Realizing that yurts made a great teaching and
community-building
tool, Bill began building wooden tapered-wall yurts with groups of
students. In 1968, as part of his Doctoral program at Harvard, he
worked with a group of students from the Study Travel School to build a
campus comprised completely of yurts on some land in New Hampshire.
This led to ongoing projects with schools and communities and Bill's
designs continued to evolve. In 1972 he established the Yurt Foundation
to continue his vision of studying indigenous cultures and applying
their technologies to modern culture to design a simpler, more
harmonious and sustainable way of living.

(2nd Canvas) Chuck Cox, one of Bill's high school students in
the
math class that built the first yurt roof, went on to build a modern
canvas covered yurt as a student project at Cornell University. Chuck
met his wife Laurel at one of Bill's workshops, and together they
produced and sold a set of plans based on the yurt at Cornell. These
plans, still available today, became the basis of modern canvas yurt
design in North America.

It was 1978 and Kirk Bachman, a student at Idaho State
University,
built a canvas yurt as a project using the Coxes' plans. When Kirk
graduated and went on to pursue backcountry guiding in the mountains of
central Idaho, he took his yurt with him to live in. His employer asked
him to build more yurts for use as backcountry ski huts, and a national
phenomenon was born. Today yurts serve backcountry uses from coast to
coast, serving Nordic hut-to-hut skiers and summer hikers both.

Also in the Northwest in the 70's, a group of hippie tree
planters
called Hoedads were living in the woods and replanting Oregon's
forests. Hoedad Charlie Crawford (a mathematician on sabbatical)
decided the yurt would be a perfect shelter. Using the Coxes' plans
initially and later printing his own, Charlie produced numerous canvas
yurts for the Hoedads under the name Cascade Shelter.

It was Alan Bair who put canvas yurts on the map. Picking up
where
Crawford left off, Alan started Centering Shelterworks (which later
became Pacific
Yurts),
in Cottage Grove, Oregon, and introduced innovations like NASA
insulation and architectural fabrics. While continuing to perfect yurt
design, Alan and his team spread the word about yurts locally and
nationally, eventually marketing canvas yurts worldwide. It was Alan
who first sold yurts to the Oregon Parks Department for use in
campgrounds, a local initiative that has become a national phenomenon.

Other canvas yurt companies started up in the '80's and '90's,
with
similar stories but each with their own emphasis. Following Kirk
Bachman's initiative, brothers Bo and Jeff Norris began producing yurts
for their backcountry ski business in Maine. They eventually dropped
the ski business to focus on yurts and for many years produced a unique
design with a pentagonal central ring and lexan skylight, and a central
stovepipe exit. The company folded in spring of 2001, but some of their
design elements are being carried on by Nomad
Shelter operating out of Homer, Alaska. Colorado company Advance
Canvas Design, started by Don and Emma Kiger, produces high
quality yurts similar in design to Pacific Yurts but at somewhat lower
cost.

Blue Evening Star, a tipi maker, incorporated tipi design
into a
unique form of yurt geared to Southwest living. Her book Tipis and
Yurts has been on the market since xx, and along with her yurtbuilding
workshops, has helped to spread the word about yurts and living
lightly.

The most recent innovations in yurt design have come from Nesting
Bird Yurts
in Port Townsend, Washington. Initially started by a designer Will
Hayes and visionary entrepreneur Jenny Pell, the design incorporated
yacht-building technology in woodworking and structural components that
exemplified the beauty and sturdiness found in yachts. Under Pell the
company maintained a strong commitment to ongoing product development
with non-toxic and environmentally sustainable materials. In February
of 2002 the company changed owners and as a result may change some of
its priorities. New designs are already being advertised. (For more
information and updates on the Nesting Birds changeover, go to Forum.)

Canvas yurts work especially well for modern nomads and people
in
transition. Typical of nomadic shelters, they use minimal materials and
are light on the land, combining environmental sustainability with a
high degree of comfort. Building the wooden deck takes carpentry skills
and few days to complete, but putting up the yurt itself takes less
than a day (my 20' Pacific Yurt took 5 people about 5 hours to put up),
or two days for a 30' yurt.

The Wooden Yurt Home

One of the students working on early projects with Bill
Coperthwaite
was a gifted 17-year-old named David Raitt. Inspired by Bill, David
went on to pursue yurt design and building as his passion and vocation,
building yurt homes and communities in New Hampshire and California and
eventually establishing California
Yurts.
David's designs evolved from Bill's tapered wall yurt with chevron roof
to a straight walled version with roof and walls built of framed
panels. These panels could be pre-fabricated and transported to a site,
thereby making it possible to meet California's stringent building
codes and still keep costs down for the homeowner. David added his own
design modifications, extending portions of the circle outward to add
extra rooms and even using the nautilus shape as the basis for an
extended roof section design. Yurts were also built with two stories
and sometimes joined together with rectangular additions.

Two companies which David Raitt helped to start have become
major
forces in the yurt industry. Morgan Reiter caught the yurt bug as an
architectural student in the '60's while visiting yurts designed by
Bill Coperthwaite. Morgan combined his study of indigenous architecture
with Bill Coperthwaite's and David Raitt's designs to build a yurt for
himself when he moved to Oregon. Friends asked Morgan to build them
yurts as well, and Oregon
Yurtworks
was born. Oregon Yurtworks also uses a pre-fabricated frame-panel
system that reduces the costs for clients and keeps the wooden yurt
homes, while not exactly nomadic, still more portable than their
conventional counterparts.

Australian Mike Shepherd ran into
David Raitt at a California retreat center where he was rethinking his
life's direction. An inimitable enthusiast at whatever he does, Mike
jumped in to help David's crew with a yurt-raising. Captivated,
Shepherd spent time with David and Annie Raitt, learning about yurts
and their business. On returning to Australia, he started Goulburn
Yurtworks in his sheep-shearing shed and began spreading the word about
yurts among Aussies. Along the way Mike created a kid's "Back to the
Basics" yurt camp, where children aged 10-XX spend their days learning
skills from milking cows to sheep-shearing and their nights sleeping in
small wooden yurts around a central pond.

Yurts Worldwide

While the use of yurts has spread across the planet, the
emphasis
varies in different countries. Yurt companies in the UK have duplicated
the ancient ger traditions, both Mongolian and Turkic, and there is an
emphasis on workshops and on the use of yurts for education and by
community garden groups. Paul King of Woodland Yurts produces primarily
Mongolian-style yurts. He had made plans available online and recently
authored The Complete Yurt Handbook. Hal Wynn-Jones focused on the
Turkic version of the yurt and is best know for creating a composite
"tent" of six partial yurt frames joined with roof struts to yet
another central compression ring. The large circus-tent sized yurt is
available as a rental for weddings and large events. Welshman Steve
Place has produced a pamphlet for CAT (Center for Alternative
Technology, Wales) with information and plans for a Turkic-style yurt.
He also teaches workshops. The rest of Europe doesn't seem to have
strong yurt producers, though I'm told there are a number of retreat
centers in Spain using UK-built gers for housing.

In Japan, a fascination with all things Mongolian has meant
the
importation of traditional gers from Mongolia. Taiyo Kogyo Corp., a
firm which uses architectural fabrics to build stadiums, recently built
20 yurts for a park educational center using high-end architectural
fabrics and a unique roof structure (see Fabric Architecture magazine,
May/June '00, p. 56). Mike Shepherd and his wooden yurts seems to be
the driving yurt force in Australia. I have yet to hear of fabric yurt
companies there, though the Australian National Yurt Project in '97-'98
brought together felters nationwide to create a decorative felted cover
for a traveling traditional ger.
(If you have information on other applications and yurt uses across the
planet, please contact us with that information and we'll include it
when we update this site.)

The Yurt is a Gift

There is something about the very shape of the circle that
provides
us a "glimpse into the wholeness, unity, and divine order of the
universe," says mathematical philosopher Michael Schneider. "The circle
is a reflection of the world's-and our own-deep perfection, unity,
design excellence, wholeness, and divine nature." (A Beginner's Guide
to Constructing the Universe, Schneider, p. 4) The very shape of the
circle seems to connect us at a primordial, cellular level to the unity
of all things, to our inter-connectedness with each other and our
connectedness to the whole.

The yurt is a gift, an ancient nomadic shelter only recently
available to modern culture. Versatile, beautiful and spiritual, both
ancient and contemporary versions give us an option for shelter that is
affordable, accessible and gentle to the earth. By its very existence,
the yurt calls us to live with simplicity, in community, and in harmony
with the planet, following a lifestyle that truly exemplifies the
injunction to "do no harm".

Whatever form of shelter we ultimately choose, it is good to
learn
from this ancient nomadic path, from the people of the yurt, and from
the circle itself as it speaks of the unity and interconnectedness of
all things.